jas61292
used substitute
I just want to comment on the potential slate a bit. First of all we have Illusion. Now, as I have said in a few times already on IRC, Illusion itself is not really risky at all. In all honesty, it is a 100% positive ability who's effectiveness really depends on the rest of the Pokemon. Zoroark is a very risky mon, but that is because it is one of the frailest pokemon there is and that it depends on set up to do a lot of damage. I certainly think Illusion could work, but no more than it could work on any similar concept. It certainly can be on a risky Pokemon, as Zoroark proves, but I don't see anything specific about it that helps the concept.
Moxie is an interesting one. It is all about a reward, but one that you won't necessarily get to use. Of all the pure reward abilities, I definitely think it is the best. Simply getting the boost from it means little if you have not set up the situation to allow you to take advantage of it. I just fear that we won't end up having enough risk with this ability, especially considering our fantastic neutral coverage. On the other hand, if we make it too slow, than this ability could be useless.
Next is the ever controversial No Guard. I have to say, I have been pretty much against this one the entire time. Now, I definitely understand the arguments for it, but I don't think it would really do much to help the concept. Basically, the idea behind this one is that it provides reward with the consistency of never missing moves (and possibly making powerful inaccurate moves usable), while providing the risk of never avoiding opponents moves, especially Fire Blast, Stone Edge and Hurricane. In addition it provides the benefit of eliminating luck based risk so only the risk we focus on is being tested. However, I question if this is actually a good thing. luck is an inherent part of Pokemon, and limiting the missing is not eliminating this. In fact, they way I see it, it is eliminating an important balancing factor in the luck. Sure, attacks don't miss as much, but that just means the chances for crits, secondary effects and the like increases. No Guard is not really limiting luck at all. Even so, I don't think that is reason enough to not use it if the what it actually does is worth it. However, I don't really see the advantages of No Guard being worth it. Unless we give it some absurd moves in the movepool stage, there is no real advantage of it. No miss Megahorn is nice, but at this point, there is nothing else that I can really assume about it that would be worth taking ever single move thrown at it. In addition, the idea that the confidence it gives could help the way you play seems completely absurd to me. No one switches their Dark Pokemon into a Megahorn assuming it will miss, unless they have no choice, and it not missing means they lose anyways. Basically, there is nothing that No Guard does that is really beneficial enough to be worth the negatives it brings, unless we give it ridiculous moves, which not only would make it overly defining of the Pokemon, but would also only serve to eliminate risk, not help make a risky Pokemon.
Then, there is Simple. I think this could work, but there are not really enough moves that it can take advantage of in a risky way. If we want to use this simply as a reward and not a risk, then that is ok. However, there are a few ways we can make it risky, either via making Curse the only boosting move if it has decent speed, or forcing it to rely on moves like Psycho Boost or coverage moves like Superpower. I don't think this is the best ability, but I think it certainly has some merit.
And finally, we have Weak Armor. I want to once again state that this is my favorite of the bunch. If we want an ability that embodies both risk and reward, Weak Armor is by far the best of the bunch. The ability to freely get a speed boost by switching into a physical (and likely resisted) move is hugely beneficial. But at the same time, the Defense drop is definitely crippling. However, this only makes a difference if they opponent gets a chance to hit you, with the most worrying case being priority moves. But I feel the concern over these is overblown. Lets face it, with a double fighting resist, the only priority that really matters is Bullet Punch from Scizor. And sure, it will probably beat CAP4 after a Def drop, but then, it will likely beat it without a Def drop. Unless you resist it, Scizor 2HKOs pretty much anything. losing defense has nothing to do with that. Even so, I think the priority weakness is a good thing. It is exactly the kind of risk we should be looking at. You can get it without a hit and have some bulk, but be slow, or you can switch into a hit and have speed, but be vulnerable to priority. To me that is exactly the kind of situation we should be trying to create.
Moxie is an interesting one. It is all about a reward, but one that you won't necessarily get to use. Of all the pure reward abilities, I definitely think it is the best. Simply getting the boost from it means little if you have not set up the situation to allow you to take advantage of it. I just fear that we won't end up having enough risk with this ability, especially considering our fantastic neutral coverage. On the other hand, if we make it too slow, than this ability could be useless.
Next is the ever controversial No Guard. I have to say, I have been pretty much against this one the entire time. Now, I definitely understand the arguments for it, but I don't think it would really do much to help the concept. Basically, the idea behind this one is that it provides reward with the consistency of never missing moves (and possibly making powerful inaccurate moves usable), while providing the risk of never avoiding opponents moves, especially Fire Blast, Stone Edge and Hurricane. In addition it provides the benefit of eliminating luck based risk so only the risk we focus on is being tested. However, I question if this is actually a good thing. luck is an inherent part of Pokemon, and limiting the missing is not eliminating this. In fact, they way I see it, it is eliminating an important balancing factor in the luck. Sure, attacks don't miss as much, but that just means the chances for crits, secondary effects and the like increases. No Guard is not really limiting luck at all. Even so, I don't think that is reason enough to not use it if the what it actually does is worth it. However, I don't really see the advantages of No Guard being worth it. Unless we give it some absurd moves in the movepool stage, there is no real advantage of it. No miss Megahorn is nice, but at this point, there is nothing else that I can really assume about it that would be worth taking ever single move thrown at it. In addition, the idea that the confidence it gives could help the way you play seems completely absurd to me. No one switches their Dark Pokemon into a Megahorn assuming it will miss, unless they have no choice, and it not missing means they lose anyways. Basically, there is nothing that No Guard does that is really beneficial enough to be worth the negatives it brings, unless we give it ridiculous moves, which not only would make it overly defining of the Pokemon, but would also only serve to eliminate risk, not help make a risky Pokemon.
Then, there is Simple. I think this could work, but there are not really enough moves that it can take advantage of in a risky way. If we want to use this simply as a reward and not a risk, then that is ok. However, there are a few ways we can make it risky, either via making Curse the only boosting move if it has decent speed, or forcing it to rely on moves like Psycho Boost or coverage moves like Superpower. I don't think this is the best ability, but I think it certainly has some merit.
And finally, we have Weak Armor. I want to once again state that this is my favorite of the bunch. If we want an ability that embodies both risk and reward, Weak Armor is by far the best of the bunch. The ability to freely get a speed boost by switching into a physical (and likely resisted) move is hugely beneficial. But at the same time, the Defense drop is definitely crippling. However, this only makes a difference if they opponent gets a chance to hit you, with the most worrying case being priority moves. But I feel the concern over these is overblown. Lets face it, with a double fighting resist, the only priority that really matters is Bullet Punch from Scizor. And sure, it will probably beat CAP4 after a Def drop, but then, it will likely beat it without a Def drop. Unless you resist it, Scizor 2HKOs pretty much anything. losing defense has nothing to do with that. Even so, I think the priority weakness is a good thing. It is exactly the kind of risk we should be looking at. You can get it without a hit and have some bulk, but be slow, or you can switch into a hit and have speed, but be vulnerable to priority. To me that is exactly the kind of situation we should be trying to create.